Gangster

by Sapphire Knight

  Shit. I’d finally made myself stop thinking about her so much, and now she’s here. What the hell am I supposed to do? Sit here and stare at her the entire night? Because that’s what will happen, I already know it. There’s no way I can watch the fight now and pay attention. Who cares who wins at this point; I just want to soak her all in, every ounce I can get away with looking at and tuck it all away to think about later.

  And who are all the men with her? There are six of those mobbish-looking goons surrounding her. Is she married? Could that old man next to her be her husband? Of course, she’d be wed by now; it’s been five long years. Hell, she could’ve been married when we were together, and I’d have never known it.

  Although I didn’t see a ring on her finger, but that means nothing nowadays.

  Viktor taps my shoulder, nodding straight ahead at the group I’ve already been staring at. “Mafiya.” His Russian comes out just a touch with his disgust.“Sicilian Mafioso?” I respond, and he grunts.

  “Luciano and Leopoldo Franchetti.”

  The names of the two famous Sicilian mobsters has my chest feeling like a ton of bricks is resting on top of it. “Old Sicily, they’re brothers also?”“Da.”

  Shit. Is Victoria in with the mob? And not even regular American Mafia. This is old-school, the real deal, string-you-up-in-the-streets-to-die type of gangsters. This is even worse than her just being Italian. And the Sicilians have been working against Viktor every step of the way as he’s tried to shut down the sex trade outlets of the underground. This just became messy.

  “Watch them.”

  “Yes, sir.” I nod, keeping my eyes glued on the group. Well, to one person in particular. And to think I was excited when I saw her sitting over there; now it’s more like dread resting in the bottom of my gut. If she’s a part of their operation, I’m most likely going to be tasked with killing her. The woman I’ve searched so long for and there’s a chance I’ll be the one to send her to her deathbed. Not the kind of bed I was hoping to get her into.

  “Should be starting in ten minutes or less,” Nikoli announces to the group. Now I’m glad we got here early, gives me more of a chance to get familiar with our surroundings and everyone sitting in their designated seats. “Ripper is going to win the first round, and Lexei will owe me one stack.”

  My eyebrows shoot up, hearing his declaration. “Wait; you guys bet on the fight?” I ask him.

  “Yes, he bet me last night.”

  Grinning, I glance at Alexei, looking for confirmation. He shrugs in return, not looking the slightest bit bothered that I know he listened to me about placing bets with the guys. I’ll have to remember this for next time.

  Big, brown, doe-like eyes meet mine, full of shock as Victoria notices me staring at her for the first time. After a few moments, she blinks a bunch of times, squinting, closing one eye and opening, then repeating the same with the other, until finally she must give in and realize it really is me that she sees. Her shoulders grow stiff, and by her reaction, she must remember me.

  At least I hope she does.

  Chapter 4No More Games

  Glancing over at the men with her, I make sure none of them are paying me any attention and then nod off to the side. Hopefully, she’ll understand that I need to speak with her. I have to know if she’s in with them or what’s the deal.

  Even if she’s just sleeping with one of them, my Boss will never approve of her. Not now, after she’s been seen out in public with them. I know he’ll be too wary of letting her close to anyone we care about and who can blame him? I’d be the same way if I were in his position. You can’t trust anyone in this lifestyle when it comes down to it. Too many people will burn you in a heartbeat if they think they can get away with it and get ahead.

  It takes a few minutes of her looking around at everything but me until she stands. The older man to her left questions her and after a few words from her, he nods, slightly irritated, but resigned. You can tell he’s not happy about letting her out of his sight, but he does anyway. He doesn’t give in completely, though; once she’s a few rows away, he sends a goon to monitor her.

  Hopefully, his guy’s not very perceptive, or I may have to figure out a place to stuff a body.

  “I’ll be back,” I mutter to Alexei and stand up.

  I don’t know where she’s heading, but I figure I’ll try the bathrooms and concession near their seating area. Heading for the hallway, I quickly stride down the painted concrete walkway, scanning each person with dark hair as I go.

  Part of me wants to shake her, demanding she tells me why she’s with someone like them. The other piece of me has missed her and wants to hold her tightly, kissing her mouth until she can no longer breathe.

  I’m nearly to the hall leading to their seating section, when a metal door off to the side, opens swiftly. She peeps her head out a little, grasping my suit jacket with her petite hand and tugs until I follow her into the small janitorial closet.

  The musty smell of dust and bleach hit my senses as Victoria quickly closes the door behind us.

  “Is it…is it really you? Spartak?” she whispers in awe.

  Her hopeful eyes swallow me up; I could drown in their sweet depths. She looks so happy and surprised to see me.

  “Who are those men?” I should say something else, but I can’t help myself. I need to know. I need to hear it come from her mouth so I can either strangle her or kiss her.

  “Men?”

  “Yes. The men you were sitting with. Is the old one your husband?”

  “Gross; no, that’s my father. None of them is my husband.”

  “So you have one then?”

  “What? No! I’ve never been married. This wasn’t what I was imagining we’d talk about when we finally saw each other again.”

  “You thought we’d see each other again?”

  “Well, I had hoped we would. I really liked you, Spartak. Our time was short, but I had fun with you. I’ve thought about it many times over the years, and there have been places where I’ve sworn to have caught a glimpse of you. But then I’d try to find you and it would be someone else, or the person would disappear before I could catch them.”

  “I searched for you for years. It was hard; I didn’t have much information on you. It would’ve helped if you hadn’t used a fake last name. Is your first name even Victoria?”

  “Yes, I didn’t lie to you about that.” Glancing at her feet, she looks ashamed that I have to question her. She shouldn’t have lied; I would’ve found her sooner.

  “Your father’s Sicilian?”

  “Yes.” Her chin rises, proudly.

  “This could be a problem. Do you realize who I am, who I’m affiliated with?”

  She nods.

  “And this doesn’t bother you, knowing that we’re enemies?”

  “You’re not my enemy,” she replies softly and she may as well have just twisted the knife into my gut, because fuck my life I couldn’t kill her now no matter how badly I needed to.

  “You aren’t mine either,” I respond, and it’s like a switch is flipped. She launches herself at me, her arms circling my neck, her thighs wrapping around my hips as I lift her, bringing her body to mine.

  My mouth lands on hers—hard, wanting, craving—needing to take what it’s missed so desperately. Stumbling forward, I rest her body against the cold wall, just like I did the first time we were together.

  “I want you,” she gasps between sloppy, rushed kisses. Her body becomes more and more turned on as my cock grows harder and rests against her center.

  “How much?”

  “So much, Spartak. Please!”

  “Here, now?”

  “Yes. It’s been too long; I want to feel you inside me again.”

  She doesn’t have to ask me twice. Hiking her dress up until the fitted material’s resting at her waistline, I rip her panties to the side, pushing two of my fingers inside, priming her for me.

  “Even better than I remember,” I mumble moments la
ter, slipping my hand free and pulling out my cock.

  She sinks her teeth into my chin, just hard enough to make me growl. Her curves are more pronounced than I remember. My hands are full of her everywhere they roam, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

  “You’re so sexy. Did your ass get bigger?”

  Through the warmness of our body heat and rush, I’m still able to make out the rosy hue on the tops of her cheeks. I don’t know if she’s embarrassed or angry about my observation.

  “Yes, maybe a few sizes.”

  “I fucking love it. Your entire body is better now. You were beautiful before, but shit, you’re gorgeous, Victoria.”

  It must be the right answer as she rewards me by squirming just enough for my cock to push inside her.

  “Gorgeous and you feel fucking amazing.”

  “So do you, Spartak; you fit me perfectly.” She moans as I thrust deeply.

  I could never get my fill of this woman. It’s been too long and my ideas about her have built up so much over the years that I’m at the point of wanting to kidnap her away from her family and keep her. They’d kill me if I did that, although they’d probably kill me if they found us like this too. Or I could just off them first and take care of all our problems. I don’t know how Victoria would feel about that, though.

  Her nails sink into my chest as she rips my button-up shirt open to reveal my muscular torso. The buttons pop off and fly in every direction, making me chuckle. She’s strong and wild, just like before—just like I dreamed. I don’t even know her and yet I missed her. How is that possible?

  “Yes!” she gasps as I drive into her again. Victoria has my mind spinning; she feels so damn good. I can’t believe that I’m holding her in my arms right now. I feel like I’ve waited forever for this—like it isn’t real.

  “Are you real?”

  “Of course I am. I’m one hundred percent real and right here.”

  “Oh thank God,” I murmur, tucking my face into her neck, breathing in her scent. “You still taste like strawberries and smell delicious,” I say, staying in the same place where I can taste her skin, smell her scent, feel her soft hair, and bask in her warm body. She’s exactly what I need, what I want.

  I thrust deeply, driving myself in her until I’m fully seated and she’s moaning so loudly that I have to cover her mouth with my palm to quiet her down.

  “Shhh, moy kpacota.” At my words, she begins to throb inside, her legs clenching around me tightly as her orgasm hits.

  Her nails grip into my shoulder blades, as she orders me, “Suck on my nipples, now!”

  I do as she tells me, pulling one pebbled nipple into my mouth, and biting down, just enough to finish pushing her over the edge. Once she’s sated and her body becomes putty in my hands, I wrap my arms around her as much as possible, pulling her as close to me as I can. I want to feel all of her, surrounding me while I pour my essence deep into her. I want her to remember how I felt holding her so tightly, while I shared every piece of myself with her.

  Once I’m finished, I gently set her back on her feet, pulling myself free from her blissful piece of heaven.

  “It was worth the wait. But next time, I’m going to tie your hands up somewhere. Teach you to keep your claws to yourself unless I ask for them.”

  “Next time, hm?” She smiles. “You’re already planning?”

  “Once is never enough with you, Victoria. It wasn’t the first time, and it isn’t this time. I want every piece of you.”

  “Those are some strong words, Spartak.”

  “You promised if it were meant to be, we’d see each other again. This is twice. I saw you last week at the art gala and now here.”

  “Last week? You saw me?”

  “Yes, you went into an alley and then I couldn’t find you after that.”

  “But you didn’t see anything else?”

  “What else was there? I followed you and then waited around. The only other people I saw were some rich ladies leaving. I must’ve missed you leaving out of the front entrance.”

  “Oh yeah, the front.” She nods, her eyes glancing to the side.

  She’s hiding something.

  “What is it?”

  “Huh?”“You’re not telling me something.”

  “I…uh…Oh, shit!” she finishes, surprised as the metal door’s wrenched open. She scurries to fix her clothes behind me as two angry Sicilian faces fill the open doorway.

  One is a man that was sitting next to her; not the one I thought was her husband, but another. The second man is the goon that was sent to follow her.

  The one that resembles her father, orders, “Tia! Oi, get out here now. Your papa will be furious when he hears of this!”

  “Please, Uncle Leo, no!” she pleads behind me to no use. He reaches past me, snatching her arm to yank her out. He starts to pull her with him as she shoves against him, begging to let her go.

  “I said now. You’re coming with me!” he responds crossly, saying something to her in their language. I try to reach for her, but the other goon’s in my face.

  I’m pushing against him to get to Victoria when the fucker head-butts me. It’s enough to daze me, and he takes full advantage of it, shoving me into the closet enough so he can shut the door.

  Victoria’s gone, and no matter how much I throw my body against the door, it doesn’t budge.

  Yelling, pounding, and kicking the door does absolutely nothing to help me out. The vent’s too small for me to crawl through. I had a cell when I came in here, but now patting my pockets, it seems to be gone. I can’t pick the lock because it’s not locked. I think there’s something wedged in front of the door keeping it closed.

  Minutes pass; how many I’m unsure. If I’d have to guess, I’d say probably twelve before the door’s opened and a fresh burst of cool air pools in.

  “What the hell happened to you?” Alexei’s serious gaze finds mine and my head pounds, reminding me of the next asshole I plan on killing.

  “One of the Sicilians head-butted me and locked me in here.”

  I expect yelling. What I don’t expect is him breaking into a grin and chuckling. It pisses me off more than any yelling would have, and I shove past him, out into the hallway.

  Storming down the hall toward their seating area, Alexei follows, calling after me, “Where are you going?”

  “I have to find them; they have something that belongs to me.”

  “Wait, Spartak,” he orders, causing my feet to come to a stop.

  “Yes?”

  “They left already and quickly. I wondered if it had something to do with you since you’d been gone for a long time, so I came to check for you. Nikoli said you had the shits, but I knew it wasn’t like you not to give us an update after fifteen minutes.”

  Patting my jacket pocket, I nod. “Yeah, my phone is lost.”

  “All that happened with a head-butt?”

  “No, there was more, but that was the gist of it.”

  “Jesus. Let’s go finish watching the fight.”

  “No, I need to speak with Viktor. I need his help.”

  “With what?”

  “I need him to find someone for me.”

  “It was a stupid Sicilian; just let it go.”

  “No, I’m not talking about him. I need to find a woman.”

  “Who?”

  “I’m not one hundred percent certain, but I think she’s Victoria Franchetti, and she belongs to me.”

  “Shit, Spartak; he’s not going to like this.”

  “I’ve lost her once, Alexei; I can’t handle it happening again.”

  “All right then, let’s see what we can do.”

  -I hate leaving it like this, but Spartak will return soon, and you’ll find out more about his story! I hope you enjoyed Corrupted Revelations and you can find out more about these sexy Russians in my Russkaya Mafiya series.

  XO, Sapphire Knight